Noni B Group

OVERALL

Owned

AUS

Rating

Women's fashion retailer

Founded in 1977 and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in May 2000. They operate over 1400 stores around Australia. Private investment group Alceon became the major shareholder in 2014. Acquired the Events and Queenspark brands in 2015, Pretty Girl Fashion Group in 2016 and 5 clothing brands from Speciality Fashion Group in 2018.

Company Assessment

Oxfam Australia's Company Tracker compares the big clothing brands on their efforts to pay a living wage to the women working in their factories. This company has not published a list of its supplier factories, has not made a public commitment to paying living wages, and does not have a satisfactory grievance mechanism in place for workers to report violations of their rights.[Source 2019][More on Workers Rights]

D grade in the Baptist World Aid Australia's 'Ethical Fashion Report 2019', which grades companies, from A to F, on the strength of their systems to mitigate against the risks of forced labour, child labour and worker exploitation in their supply chains, as well as protect the environment from the harmful impacts of the fashion industry. Assessment criteria fall into five main categories: policies, transparency and traceability, auditing and supplier relationships, worker empowerment and environmental management.[Source 2019][More on Workers Rights]

According to data released by the Australian Tax Office in Dec 2015, this company was one of 579 local and foreign-based companies that paid no tax in Australia in 2013-14. Please note however that companies pay income tax on profits, not revenue (total income). While some companies use tax havens and loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of tax in Australia, other companies that paid no tax have perfectly legitimate reasons.[Source 2015][More on Finance]

This company was involved in a landmark court case heard in the NSW Supreme Court in 2015. Alceon agreed to lend $23 million to property development entity Quadwest, which was in desperate need of funds to pay significant creditors and ensure completion of a large residential project in Perth. One of the conditions of the loan was that the developer's elderly parents would need to give up their family home if Quadvest defaulted on the loan, which it did. The court found that this condition of the loan was "unconscionable", and the family home was saved.[Source 2015][More on Finance]

This company was founded by Phil Green and Trevor Loewensohn, two of the men behind Babcock & Brown, Australia's biggest corporate failure. This Crikey article reveals details of how Green retained a number of valuable assets and millions in cash, while the company he was running collapsed.[Source 2014]